Devil's Breath

February 20, 2017
Agatha Award–winner Malliet abandons subtlety in her middling sixth Max Tudor mystery (after 2015’s The Haunted Season). Max’s friend on the local police force, Detective Chief Inspector Cotton, views the cleric-cum-detective as “an extraordinary man of seemingly endless patience, knowledge, integrity, and bravery.” And in keeping with the now larger-than-life qualities of the lead, the recipes of Max’s cookbook-author wife are being used at Buckingham Palace. Max looks into the death of an aging movie star named Margot Browne (not the only heavy-handed All About Eve reference), who was a guest on the yacht of a big-time film director. The case offers a classic golden age setup, but unfortunately Max’s sleuthing skills aren’t at their best. At one point, after learning that Margot’s corpse, recovered from the waters off Monkslip-super-Mare, bore strangulation marks, he still, bafflingly, speculates that she may have been accidentally poisoned and her body dumped overboard to cover up the mishap. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary.

February 1, 2017
A former MI5 agent who's taken Holy Orders is recruited to investigate a murder on the high seas that's brought Hollywood to the English coast.Former starlet Margot Browne is less interested in aging gracefully than in appearing forever young to her adoring fans in her latest project, a film by famed director Romero Farnier, her former flame. At least, that's her perception of things, and Romero doesn't have the heart to tell her she's too old and washed up to be a star. Romero invites Margot as a guest on his yacht on a literal guilt trip, a trip in which she's literally washed up after getting killed and pushed overboard by one of his other guests. All this happens on the waters near Monkslip County, home of former MI5 agent-turned-Rev. Max Tudor, who is asked by his former colleague to investigate while she takes care of some personal matters. Though the murder is a closed-circle crime with a limited number of suspects, each of the potential killers seems too self-centered to have deigned to interact closely enough with Margot to kill her, from her boyfriend-in-name-only to some distant royals who turn up their noses at commoners. Max uses all his resources (which are mainly limited to his personal charm) to learn the secrets of the rich and famous only to find that even though everyone has something to hide, they all agree it's better to be notorious than unknown. Though dedicated readers may miss local favorites (The Haunted Season, 2015, etc.), it's great to see the return of Malliet's wit in a high-seas whodunit that deftly skewers the Hollywood high life.

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March 1, 2017

Max Tudor, the MI5 spy-turned-English vicar, is called back into service to investigate a death on a yacht. In his sixth outing (after The Haunted Season), Max must determine who killed an aging film star. Series readers may be disappointed at the lack of contact with Max's wife and the gossipy villagers, but Agatha Christie fans will enjoy the locked-room mystery featuring a limited cast of characters. [See Prepub Alert, 10/17/16.]--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017
This entry into Malliet's popular series featuring Max Tudor, sometime MI5 agent and now English village priest, takes a glamorous turn when a movie star is murdered on a well-known producer's yacht. Tudor leaves his happy home, with wife and new baby, behind in Nether Monkslip to venture to nearby Monkslip-super-Mare, where his friend DCI Cotton and former lover Patrice Logan are trying to figure out who pushed aging actress Margot Browne off the yacht and why. With a cast of showy characters aboard, the who and why possibilities are ripe for entertainment, though the reveal of the actual killer and his/her reasons turns out to be a bit disappointing. With Tudor moving further from his clerical duties and spending more time helping either the police or his former employees, the series has become a little less cozy and more procedural. While this development may not please the author's core audience, Malliet knows how to set a scene, and here she has lots of fun with the movie-world cast.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)